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5 ways to get the most from social media

Regardless of your company's size, social media marketing is a fickle tool you can't afford to ignore, especially if your business targets Generation Z customers. Read on to discover five ways to get the most out of your social media.

#1. Choose the right platform

Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn to choose from, you may be tempted to sign up for more social media accounts than you’re ready to manage.

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12 Mar, 2018 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Facebook, Social Media category
5 ways to get the most from social media

Regardless of your company's size, social media marketing is a fickle tool you can't afford to ignore, especially if your business targets Generation Z customers. Read on to discover five ways to get the most out of your social media.

#1. Choose the right platform

Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn to choose from, you may be tempted to sign up for more social media accounts than you’re ready to manage. It may not seem like much at first, but you'd be surprised by how quickly you can be overwhelmed by statuses, commenting on existing posts, and answering inquiries on every platform, which is why it’s better to adopt only a few platforms that can effectively attract your target customers.

Ask yourself these questions before deciding which platform to use:

  • Who is my target customer and what channels do they use?
  • What do I hope to gain by opening a social media account?
  • What kind of content do I want to share and create?
  • How much time can I devote to social media management?

#2. Know when to update

Are most of your customers online at 8am or 8pm? With a better understanding of your target users' habits, you can schedule your posts so they create more traffic, increase brand engagement and, eventually, generate new leads and customers.

Depending on which platform you choose to invest in, you should post a new update during these times for maximum engagement:

  • Facebook: 1pm - 3pm on Thursday and Friday
  • Twitter: 3pm - 8pm, Monday - Friday for B2B, & Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday for B2C organizations
  • YouTube: 12pm - 3pm, Thursday - Sunday
  • LinkedIn: 8am - 5pm, Monday - Friday

#3. Use attractive, professional-looking visuals

One of the simplest ways to get followers to share your posts is by uploading high-quality photos, videos, and reliable infographics along with your messages. Studies have shown that Facebook posts with images result in 39% more engagement while tweets with images or videos create 200% more engagement.

#4. Engage with your followers

It’s important for businesses to maintain a healthy back-and-forth on social media. This means beyond sharing useful content, you should also respond to their comments and private messages as quickly as possible. You can build stronger relationships with customers by writing thank you comments to anyone who shared positive experiences with your business, and by addressing negative comments with personalized and helpful responses.

#5. Pump the brakes on promotional materials

With social media becoming important tools for customers and businesses to connect and interact, it is important not to muddy the water with too many promotional posts. A rule of thumb for social media promotions is that 80% of your posts should be shareable and interactive content, while the remaining 20% should be about your business. This will result in more engagement, a more consistent brand image, and a healthier bottom line.

Social media can help your business succeed, but only if it’s used correctly and effectively. If you’re interested in adopting the right social media platform to increase engagement and create a stronger brand reputation, contact us today and we’ll help you get started.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Best uses of Alexa in a business setting

Individual users find plenty to like about Amazon’s AI technology Alexa. It’s a great way to control smart home devices and perform small tasks like make shopping lists and answer phone calls. But Alexa also gets things done for business users, and here we’ll list some of the most useful.

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09 Mar, 2018 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Hardware, Productivity category
Best uses of Alexa in a business setting

Individual users find plenty to like about Amazon’s AI technology Alexa. It’s a great way to control smart home devices and perform small tasks like make shopping lists and answer phone calls. But Alexa also gets things done for business users, and here we’ll list some of the most useful.

Create and manage to-do and shopping lists
You have meetings to attend and deadlines to meet. Alexa has a straightforward To-do List feature that helps you stay on top of all your tasks. It’s ideal for busy professionals who prefer a no-frills checklist that allows them to simply view completed items, or to edit or delete items on the list.

You can also seamlessly sync third-party applications like Any.do and Todoist, which offer more features for organizing tasks, adding subtasks and folders, creating reminders, setting due dates, attaching files, and prioritizing items.

To connect to a third-party app:

  • Go to alexa.amazon.com or access the Alexa app
  • Go to Settings > List, click Get Skill
  • Click Enable
  • Log in to authorize the app

Alexa also has a default Shopping List that works exactly like the To-do List. It lets you add or delete items that can be browsed in the Amazon store and searched for in Bing.

Reorder office supplies
Ordering supplies on an Amazon smart home device is especially convenient because you would have already set up an Amazon account. When voice shopping with Alexa, you can either add items to your Amazon cart (“Alexa, add toner to my cart”) or directly order a single item (“Alexa, reorder toner”) without having to lift a finger.

When you place an order, Alexa checks product availability, walks you through Amazon search results, and asks you to confirm or cancel the order. Voice shopping is enabled by default, but it can be disabled in Settings > Voice Purchasing in the Alexa app.

Sync your calendars
One of the best ways to maximize Alexa in the office is to sync it up with your calendars. You can view scheduled appointments, set meetings, or have Alexa read the day’s entries with simple commands like “Alexa, what time is my next meeting?” or “Alexa, when is the company barbecue?”.

To add a calendar:

  • Go to alexa.amazon.com or access the Alexa app
  • Click Settings > Calendar 
  • Select a calendar from the available platforms: Google (Gmail and G Suite), Apple (iCloud), or Microsoft (Office 365 or Outlook)
  • Log in to your account

Set a timer
A Pomodoro timer is a productivity enhancement tool that works by prescribing ideal work intervals and breaks. For example, you can set a timer that reminds you to take a 15-minute break for every hour worked, and setting this up in Alexa is easy.

To set a single timer:

  • Say “Alexa, set a work timer for 60 minutes.”
  • After the work timer finishes, say “Alexa, set a break time for 15 minutes.”

To set several timers at once, say:

  • “Alexa, create a work timer for 60 minutes.”
  • “Alexa, create a break timer for 15 minutes.”

The commands we’ve included here work for simple instructions, but you can modify them and use tons of other Alexa commands to suit your purpose. If you need recommendations on how you can work smarter with AI and other productivity tools, get in touch with us today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Google Drive upgrade: Commenting on MS Files

Google constantly strives to boost user experience by regularly updating their series of tools and applications. This time around, they added a new feature to Google Drive wherein users can add a comment directly on the ‘Preview' pane of Microsoft Office files, images, and PDFs. Read on to find out how this can benefit your business.

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08 Mar, 2018 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Microsoft Office category
Google Drive upgrade: Commenting on MS Files

Google constantly strives to boost user experience by regularly updating their series of tools and applications. This time around, they added a new feature to Google Drive wherein users can add a comment directly on the ‘Preview' pane of Microsoft Office files, images, and PDFs. Read on to find out how this can benefit your business.

To reduce the hassles

Google Drive allows your team to seamlessly share files in the cloud and work on the go. The tech giant knows that businesses require all types of tools and files to finish certain tasks and responsibilities efficiently. This is why they eliminated the stresses of converting a document into a G Suite equivalent file just to allow commenting.

To ease your responsibilities

Google decided to enable comments directly on Microsoft office documents, images, and PDFs without any need for conversion. This is particularly helpful when you’re working with another firm, negotiating a sales transaction with a supplier, or discussing a contract with a customer. In each case, you'd likely deal with different file formats.

To improve collaboration

The most recent update allows you to comment on various file formats in Google Drive, akin to how you do it in Google Docs. In Drive’s ‘Preview’ pane, you can assign tasks, mention colleagues, or add notes, and your team will be able to respond even if they don’t use G Suite.

For instance, when one of your colleagues opens an MS Word document on a Windows computer, he or she will automatically see the comments you added and have the chance to respond to it. Commenting on the ‘Preview’ pane won’t require you to open other applications or browsers just to finish your task. Instead, you can just open documents in its preview form, provide feedback, and get back to work.

Every now and then, Google releases new features on their host of tools and applications -- and it’s always for your benefit. Make sure you take advantage of these upgrades by regularly updating your G Suite. If this sounds too technical for you, or you really don’t have enough time to stay up to date, don’t hesitate to give us a call. It is always our pleasure to help you reach your bottomline in any way that we can.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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HTTPS is something to care about

For all the time we spend discussing the complexity of internet security, there are a few simple things you can do. Avoiding websites that aren’t secured with the HTTPS protocol is one of them. It’s a habit that can be developed with a better understanding of what the padlock icon in your web browser’s address bar represents.

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07 Mar, 2018 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Security category
HTTPS is something to care about

For all the time we spend discussing the complexity of internet security, there are a few simple things you can do. Avoiding websites that aren’t secured with the HTTPS protocol is one of them. It’s a habit that can be developed with a better understanding of what the padlock icon in your web browser’s address bar represents.

HTTPS Encryption

Older web protocols lack data encryption. When you visit a website that doesn’t use HTTPS, everything you type or click on that website is sent across the network in plain text. So, if your bank’s website doesn’t use the latest protocols, your login information can be intercepted by anyone with the right tools.

HTTPS Certificates

The second thing outdated web browsing lacks is publisher certificates. When you enter a web address into your browser, your computer uses an online directory to translate that text into numerical addresses (e.g., www.google.com = 8.8.8.8) then saves that information on your computer so it doesn’t need to check the online directory every time you visit a known website.

The problem is, if your computer is hacked it could be tricked into directing www.google.com to 8.8.8.255, even if that’s a malicious website. Oftentimes, this strategy is implemented to send users to sites that look exactly like what they expected, but are actually false-front sites designed to trick you into providing your credentials.

HTTPS created a new ecosystem of certificates that are issued by the online directories mentioned earlier. These certificates make it impossible for you to be redirected to a false-front website.

What this means for daily browsing

Most people hop from site to site too quickly to check each one for padlocks and certificates. Unfortunately, HTTPS is way too important to ignore. Here are a few things to consider when browsing:

  • If your browser marks a website as “unsafe” do not click “proceed anyway” unless you are absolutely certain nothing private will be transmitted.
  • There are web browser extensions that create encrypted connections to unencrypted websites (HTTPS Everywhere is great for Chrome and Firefox).
  • HTTPS certificates don’t mean anything if you don’t recognize the company’s name. For example, goog1e.com (with the 'l' replaced with a one) could have a certificate, but that doesn’t mean it’s a trustworthy site.

Avoiding sites that don’t use the HTTPS protocol is just one of many things you need to do to stay safe when browsing the internet. When you’re ready for IT support that handles the finer points of cybersecurity like safe web browsing, give our office a call.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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